I Interviewed a Woman of the Year Award Winner
Welcome to another edition of The Value Junction. As promised, this week I’ll be interviewing international edtech consultant Shelly Sanchez Terrell.
Ms. Terrell is a true luminary in the world of education technology, and her achievements and contributions deserve resounding praise. She stands as an award-winning digital innovator, celebrated international speaker, and the gifted author of several highly influential education technology books. Her impact has transcended borders, as she has passionately and expertly trained educators in over 20 countries, leaving an indelible mark as a guest expert, consultant, and distinguished ambassador for the U.S. Embassy. Her commitment and dedication to the field led to her being named "Woman of the Year" by the esteemed National Association of Professional Women, a recognition that echoes her remarkable influence.
In addition to these achievements, Ms Terrell has received a prestigious Bammy Award, which acknowledges her as the visionary founder of the widely acclaimed #Edchat movement. She has played a pivotal role in nurturing teacher-driven professional development, having founded and organized numerous online conferences, Twitter chats, and webinars that have empowered educators globally. Her blog, TeacherRebootcamp.com, stands as a fount of inspiration for teachers seeking to enhance their educational practices. As an author, her books, including "Hacking Digital Learning with Edtech Missions," "The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers," and "Learning to Go: Integrating Mobile Learning in the Classroom," have not only made a lasting impact but continue to shape the future of education. Shelly Sanchez Terrell's tireless dedication, innovation, and leadership in the realm of education technology make her a true trailblazer and an inspiration to educators worldwide. Her remarkable body of work has cemented her legacy as a driver of progressive change in education.
It is my absolute honour to have her as a guest on my newsletter.
What edtech trends are you most excited about right now and why?
I’m most excited about the growth of gamification in education and AI-powered learning. Gamification has continued to develop and become more popular in education. Several learning platforms award students badges or let them level up. Now public schools offer e-sports programs. AI technology is becoming more powerful and many tools have developed that help teachers and learners thrive. These tools have sparked a spirit of experimentation and curiosity. It’s lit the education industry on fire and sparked lots of well-needed discussion about the ethical implications of powerful technology.
I share the excitement for the growth of gamification and AI-powered learning in education. Whenever I train teachers, I start by playing a game of riddles on Quizizz with them. You can see how excited and engaged they are from start to finish. Gamification, by tapping into intrinsic motivation, aligns well with educational psychology and has the potential to make learning engaging and enjoyable. AI-powered learning, with its personalized approach based on the Zone of Proximal Development, which I talked about in this article, offers a promising path to more adaptive education.
What is one piece of advice you have for teachers new to implementing tech in the classroom?
My advice would be to play with the technology as a learner and especially the type of learner they teach. See how the technology best supports learning as that student and what issues the student may face when using the technology. Pedagogy should drive the integration of any technology.
In pedagogy, this aligns with the Constructivist Theory, where learners actively build their knowledge through interaction with their environment. By exploring technology as a learner, teachers can better understand how it can facilitate the construction of knowledge. They can identify both its strengths in enhancing learning and the potential challenges their students may encounter. This hands-on experience enables educators to align technology with pedagogical goals effectively.
For example, if a teacher is introducing a new math app, they should first use it themselves to grasp how it can help students understand complex concepts. This ensures that the integration of technology is purposeful and addresses specific learning objectives.
How can we ensure equity and empowerment as technology becomes more integrated into education?
When I travel to different schools or train teachers I’ve seen more schools provide students with some device. I think we need to continue the trend of ensuring every student has access to a good internet connection and has a personal learning device at school and at home. I also think we need to support parents in the most effective uses of technology for learning and how to help their children use technology in healthy ways. Hosting family workshops where conversations on various issues are facilitated between guardians and children is necessary for real change. We need to show parents how to monitor screen time, talk to their children about cyberbullying, talk to the child about data and security, etc. I envision family nights where a teacher models the conversation or action and then gets parents to role-play. I think this should be available virtually as well in multiple languages. Families often don’t know what to say or do to ensure their child uses technology safely and ethically.
I genuinely appreciate your emphasis on supporting parents in integrating technology, an aspect often overlooked in many educational settings. Empowering parents with knowledge and tools not only strengthens the school-home partnership but also ensures a more responsible and informed use of technology, creating a well-rounded support system for students. This collaborative approach is essential in fostering a positive digital learning environment and highlights your dedication to comprehensive, inclusive education.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing edtech today? How can they be overcome?
The biggest challenge facing edtech is how to get the focus more on the humanity of edtech. We put powerful technology in the hands of students but there isn’t enough ethical reflection associated with the curriculum. Every technology-integrated classroom needs an ethics and wellness-heavy focus. Students need to continually reflect on their use of technology and see how they can prevent the technology from harming themselves, others and humanity. Unfortunately, education systems aren’t prioritizing this and we already see the negative impacts. Edtech wants to do this but getting education policy to support it is the challenge.
This has been one of those things I’ve addressed in many of my articles. And I think the key to overcoming this is remembering that technology is just a delivery mechanism. We should focus on people and processes that facilitate learning.
What is an edtech mistake you see educators make frequently? How can they avoid it?
I think the big mistake is not having students regularly reflect on how technology impacts their learning, tasks, creativity and productivity. Students need to daily reflect on how technology impacts their learning, health, their community and society. This can be through an exit ticket after a task asking how the tool helped them accomplish the learning objective and what struggles they faced. Small group discussions and reflection are also powerful ways students can reflect on the impact of technology on their learning.
Once again, she’s spot on. Reflection is such an important part of learning but because it seems hard and boring to do, it often gets overlooked. This 2009 study shows that ‘reflection is essential for self-regulated and lifelong learning, developing a therapeutic relationship, and professional expertise.’ We need to help students reflect more on how they learn in general, not with technology. To help students reflect more on their learning in general, here are some strategies I would suggest:
Build in time for regular reflective writing or journaling. Prompts could include "What did you learn about yourself as a learner this week?" or "What study strategies worked well or didn't work well for you?"
Structure one-on-one conferences with students to discuss their cognitive and metacognitive processes. Ask questions like "What challenges did you face?" and "If you were to tackle a similar task again, how might you approach it differently?"
Model reflective thinking aloud during class activities. Verbalize your own problem-solving processes and self-monitoring strategies.
Have students create multimedia reflection presentations, blogs, or videos synthesizing their learning across units or courses.
Incorporate student self-assessment tools like rubrics, checklists, or surveys to evaluate their own performance and growth.
Display reflection questions during class and have brief small or whole group discussions analyzing learning processes.
The key is building reflective practices seamlessly into learning activities across subjects and grade levels. With scaffolding and practice, reflection can become an integral part of students' academic development. I'm happy to brainstorm more ideas if helpful! Please let me know if you need any clarification or have additional thoughts on integrating reflection.
How has the role of educators evolved in a classroom where technology is ubiquitous?
Teachers are definitely needed as guides. Teachers can encourage students to use technology in ways that transform the world in a positive way. They can get students to debate and discuss how they feel about various serious issues. Such as copyright infringement and the spread of misinformation. Because ethics and well-being with technology curricula aren’t in place at most schools, the teacher is the most important person to help students use technology ethically and also in ways to promote better mental health and physical well-being.
In 1993, Professor Alison King published a paper titled From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side in which she explored the teacher’s new role as a result of rapid technological advancements and information overload. She suggested that teachers should no longer present themselves as the source of knowledge but rather as a guide to help students acquire knowledge. In the paper, she also provides ways teachers can do this effectively. This is even more important now because AI has made access to information a lot easier than ever before. And that’s why Ms. Shelly Sanchez is encouraging teachers to be that guide that students need. Here are 7 ways Professor Alison King suggests we do that:
Think-Pair-Share: Students individually think for a moment about a question posed in the lecture, then pair up with a classmate beside them to share/discuss their thoughts.
Developing Scenarios: Students work in pairs to develop a specific scenario of how and where a particular concept or principle could be applied.
Developing Critiques: Students develop a critique of a common practice. I particularly love this one as it helps students develop an open mind and critical thinking.
Pair Summarizing/Checking: Students work in pairs-one summarizes what's been presented and the other listens and checks for errors, correcting errors when noted.
Problem Posing: Individual students make up a real-world problem regarding a particular concept or principle, then exchange problems with a classmate for solving.
Analogical Thinking: Students propose a metaphor or analogy for a principle or procedure. This can improve the students' creativity.
Developing Rebuttals: Students individually develop rebuttals for arguments presented in the lecture and then pair up with another student to argue for and against.
What might a classroom that effectively balances technology with humanity look like?
One of my books is about what I call mission-minded learning. Students are given learning missions they accomplish with technology and these missions positively impact their communities. I believe students need to use technology to make a positive impact on the world. Students should be collaborating with peers in small groups on digital projects, revising their initial ideas based on peer feedback. Students should be able to publish or implement their projects to see the real-world impact and be able to learn from failure and able to improve their ideas in a safe environment. Students ideally should review real-world cases of technology negatively impacting society as well as positively impacting society and see examples from role models that are also their age.
Absolutely! And I think this also ties in perfectly with performance-based assessment which I talked about in this article as the best way to assess students in the era of AI. Learning is much more effective when you understand the importance of what you are learning and how it can be used to make the world a better place.
What inspires you in the work you do surrounding education technology?
I’m inspired by the amount of hardworking teachers worldwide who dedicate so much of their own time to learning about the effective use of technology. I’ve trained teachers in person in 26 countries and hundreds of other locations online and my sessions are filled with teachers wanting to play with the tools and truly see how to best serve their learners.
This is really outstanding. On behalf of all the teachers and the edtech world, thank you so much for all you do. Teachers hold a special place in my heart too and training them is easily one of my favourite things to do. They get really excited to learn something new that will help them teach more effectively and make their students learn better. Just wholesome.
If you could envision the ultimate edtech tool that doesn't exist yet, what would it be?
My mind is always racing with ideas for a cool new educational technology. I wouldn’t say I believe in one ultimate edtech tool. I like constant innovation and believe we should always strive for better in education. However, I do wish every family had good internet access and a quality learning device at home.
Yep. That’s my wish too. The digital divide is huge.
If you could add one new mandatory class focused on an important life skill that schools don't normally teach, what would you choose?
Technology Ethics and Wellbeing
That’s all for now. A big thank you to Ms Terrel for agreeing to do this. I am eternally grateful. I enjoyed her insights and genuinely learned a lot from them. I hope you did too.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Shelly Sanchez Terrell
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